The present invention relates to a spinning reel such as fishing reel provided with an improved slide structure.
There is known a fishing reel provided with a slid structure such as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. HEI 2-60295. FIG. 66 is schematic view showing a slide structure of a fishing reel of this known publication.
Referring to FIG. 66, the slide structure comprises a handle shaft (not shown in the Figure) which extends in a bilateral direction of a reel body, an oscillator gear 301 supported by a shaft extending in parallel to the handle shaft and operated in association with the rotation of the handle shaft, a vertical groove 303a formed to an oscillator 303 contacting the oscillator gear 301 fixed to a spool shaft 302 extending in a longitudinal direction of the reel body, a slot 301 a formed to the oscillator gear 301 in a direction along a diameter direction thereof, a cam groove 304 having an elliptical shape having a long axis extending in the longitudinal direction of the reel body and surrounding the oscillator gear shaft, and a pin 305 penetrating the slot 30a and having one end inserted into the cam groove 304 and the other end inserted into the vertical groove 303a.
When the handle shaft is rotated, the oscillator gear 301 is also rotated, and the pin 305 performs an elliptical rotating motion while following up the elliptical cam groove 304 into which the one end of the pin is inserted and being guided and moved by the slot 301a formed to the oscillator gear 301 in the diameter direction thereof. Since the other end of the pin is inserted into the vertical groove 303a, the oscillator 303 follows up the elliptical rotating motion of the pin 305 to thereby perform a reciprocal motion in the longitudinal direction thereof. Accordingly, the spool shaft 302 and a spool (not shown) mounted to the front end of the spool shaft 302 are also moved reciprocally at the front portion of the reel body in the longitudinal direction.
In the fishing reel having the slide structure mentioned above, however, since the pin is inserted only into the slot of the oscillator gear and the cam groove, the pin is easily inclined and the transfer system from the oscillator gear and the oscillator is not moved smoothly, and hence, a backlash is caused in the longitudinal direction of the spool, which may damage the smooth winding up of the fishing line. Moreover, when an impact load is applied to the spool by, for example, a falling down of the reel, a large force is applied to the pin, so that the pin will be easily twisted or broken. Furthermore, since it is necessary to accord the orientation of the cam groove with the extending direction of the spool shaft, the shape of the reel body and the arrangements of parts will be limited. Still furthermore, since the pin must be located inside the root circle of the oscillator gear, the stroke of the oscillator or the spool cannot be made large more than the diameter of the oscillator gear.
Still furthermore, when the pin is guided along the slot formed in the diameter direction of the oscillator gear rotating at a constant speed while being limited by the cam groove having upper and lower flat portions and elliptical shape in the longitudinal direction of the reel body, the pin takes place a speedy elliptical motion because of the coincidence with the sliding direction of the oscillator at the upper and lower positions of the oscillator gear and takes place a slow elliptical motion because of the crossing to the sliding direction of the oscillator at longitudinal portions of the oscillator gear. Accordingly, even if the pin is rapidly rotated reversely at the front and rear end portions of the oscillator gear, the sliding direction of the oscillator cannot be changed rapidly, direction of the oscillator gear, the sliding direction of the oscillator cannot be changed rapidly, providing a problem.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 66, the sliding motion of the oscillator per one rotation of the oscillator gear in the four quadrants sectioned by two axes 11 and 12 is represented by FIG. 4, in which in the quadrant I, as shown with broken line, the spool shaft is in a direction change area from the forward movement to the rearward movement and the spool shaft moving speed is in a low speed sliding area, in the quadrant II, the spool shaft is in a moving area in which the spool shaft moves rearward and the spool shaft speed is in a high speed sliding area in comparison with the case in the quadrant I, in the quadrant III, the spool shaft is in a direction change area from the rearward movement to the forward movement and the spool shaft moving speed is a low speed sliding area, and in the quadrant IV, the spool shaft is in a forward moving area and the spool shaft speed is in a high speed area as in the quadrant III. For the reason described above, in the quadrants II and IV being the high speed sliding areas with respect to the I and III quadrants being the low speed sliding areas, the spool shaft moves fast, thus also providing a problem. Accordingly, the fishing line cannot be uniformly wound up because of such sliding speed difference, resulting in slacking of the fishing reel.